obliged to give way to the tide, and was banished | as the evidence was very slender, the Earl gave judgfrom Scotland. This affair interested all the north- ment against the accusers. Hereupon John Carongne ern barons; and it is not impossible, that some appealed to the Parliament of Paris; which court, share, taken in it by this Sir Hugh de Arbuthnot, after full consideration, appointed the case to be tried may have given a slight foundation for the tradition by mortal combat betwixt the parties, John Carongne of the country.-WINTOUN, book vii. ch. 9. Or, if appearing as the champion of his lady. If he failed we suppose Sir Hugh le Blond to be a predecessor in his combat, then was he to be hanged, and his of the Sir Hugh who flourished in the thirteenth lady burnt, as false and unjust calumniators. This century, he may have been the victor in a duel, short-combat, under circumstances so very peculiar, atly noticed as having occured in 1154, when one Arthur, accused of treason, was unsuccessful in his appeal to the judgment of God. Arthurus regem Malcolm proditurus duello periit. Chron. Sanctæ Crucis, ap. Anglia Sacra, vol. i. p. 161. But, true or false, the incident narrated in the ballad, is in the genuine style of chivalry. Romances abound with similar instances, nor are they wanting in real history. The most solemn part of a knight's oath was to defend "all widows, orphelines, and maidens of gude fame."*-LINDSAY's Heraldry, MS. The love of arms was a real passion of itself, which blazed yet more fiercely when united with the enthusiastic admiration of the fair sex. The Knight of Chaucer exclaims, with chivalrous energy, "To fight for a lady! a benedicite! It were a lusty sight for to see." It was an argument, seriously urged by Sir John of Heinault, for making war upon Edward II. in behalf of his banished wife, Isabella, that knights were bound to aid, to their uttermost power, all distressed damsels, living without counsel or comfort. An apt illustration of the ballad would have been the combat undertaken by three Spanish champions against three Moors of Grenada, in defence of the honour of the Queen of Grenada, wife to Mahommed Chiquito, the last monarch of that kingdom. But I have not at hand Las Guerras Civiles de Granada, in which that achievement is recorded. Raymond Berenger, Count of Barcelona, is also said to have defended, in single combat, the life and honour of the Empress Matilda, wife of the Emperor Henry V., and mother to Henry II. of England.-See ANTONIO ULLOA, del vero Honore Militare, Venice, 1569. A less apocryphal example is the duel, fought in 1387, betwixt Jacques le Grys and John de Carongne, before the King of France. These warriors were retainers of the Earl of Alencon, and originally sworn brothers. John de Carongne went over the sea, for the advancement of his fame, leaving in his castle a beautiful wife, where she lived soberly and sagely. But the devil entered into the heart of Jacques le Grys, and he rode, one morning, from the Earl's house to the castle of his friend, where he was hospitably received by the unsuspicious lady. He requested her to show him the donjon, or keep of the castle, and in that remote and inaccessible tower forcibly violated her chastity. He then monted his horse, and returned to the Earl of Alencon within so short a space, that his absence had not been perceived. The lady abode within the donjon, weeping bitterly, and exclaiming, "Ah, Jacques! it was not well done thus to shame me! but on you shall the shame rest, if God send my husband safe home!" The lady kept secret this sorrowful deed until her husband's return from his voyage. The day passed, and night came, and the knight went to bed; but the lady would not; for ever she blessed herself, and walked up and down the chamber, studying and musing, until her attendants had retired; and then, throwing herself on her knees before the knight, she showed him all the adventure. Hardly would Carongne believe the treachery of his companion; but, when convinced, he replied, "Since it is so, lady, I pardon you; but the knight shall die for this villanous deed.' Accordingly, Jacques le Grys was accused of the crime in the court of the Earl of Alencon. But, as he was greatly loved of his lord, and Such an oath is still taken by the Knights of the Bath; but, I believe, few of that honourable brotherhood will now consider it quite so obligatory as the conscientious Lord Herbert of Cherbury, who gravely alleges it as a sufficient reason for having challenged divers cavaliers, that they had either snatched from a lady her bouquet, or ribbon, or by some discourtesy of similar importance, placed her, as his lordship conceived, in the predicament of a distressed damozell. tracted universal attention: in so much, that the King of France and his peers, who were then in Flanders collecting troops for an invasion of England, returned to Paris, that so notable a duel might be fought in the royal presence. "Thus," says Froissart, "the Kynge, and his uncles, and the constable, came to Parys. Then the lystes were made in a place called Saynt Katheryne, behinde the Temple. There was so moche people, that it was mervayle to beholde: and on the one side of the lystes there was made gret scaffoldes, that the lordes might the better se the batayle of the ii champions; and so they bothe came to the felde, armed at all peaces, and there eche of them was set in theyr chayr; the Erle of Saynt Poule gouverned John Carongne, and Erle of Alanson's company with Jacques le Grys; and when the knyght entred in to the felde, he came to his wyfe, who was there syttynge in a chayre, covered in blacke, and he sayd to her thus:- Dame, by your informacyon, and in your quarrell, I do put my lyfe in adventure, as to fight with Jacques le Grys; ye knowe, if the cause be just and true.'-'Syr,' said the lady, 'it is as I have sayd; wherefore ye maye fight surely; the cause is good and true.' With those wordes, the knyghte kissed the lady, and toke her by the hande, and then blessed hym, and soo entred into the felde. The lady sate styll in the blacke chayre, in her prayers to God, and to the Vyrgyne Mary, humbly prayenge them, by theyr specyall grace, to send her husband the victory, accordynge to the ryght. She was in gret hevynes, for she was not sure of her lyfe; for, if her husbande sholde have ben discomfyted, she was judged, without remedy to be brente, and her husbande hanged. I cannot say whether she repented her or not, as the matter was so forwarde, that both she and her husbande were in grete peryll; howbeit, fynally, she must as then abyde the adventure. Then these two champyons were set one against another, and so mounted on theyr horses, and behauved them nobly; for they knewe what perteyned to deedes of armes. There were many lordes and knyghtes of Fraunce, that were come thyder to se that batayle. The two champyons justed at theyr fyrst metyng, but none of them did hurte other; and after the justes, they lyghted on foote to perfourme theyr batayle, and soo fought valyauntly.—And fyrst, John of Carongne was hurt in the thyghe, whereby all his frendes were in grete fere; but, after that, he fought so valyauntly, that he bette down his adversary to the erthe, and threst his swerd in his body, and soo slew hym in the felde; and then demanded, if he had done his devoyre or not? and they answered, that he had valyauntly atchieved his batayle. Then Jacques le Grys was delyuered to the hangman of Parys, and he drewe hym to the gybbet of Mountfawcon, and there hanged him up. Then John of Carongne came before the kynge, and kneeled downe, and the kynge made him to stand up before him; and, the same daye, the kynge caused to be delyvered to hym a thousande franks, and reteyned him to be of his chambre, with a pencyon of ii hundred pounde by yere, durynge the term of his lyfe. Then he thanked the kynge and the lordes, and went to his wyfe, and kissed her; and then they wente togyder, to the chyrche of Our Ladye, in Parys, and made theyr offerynge, and then retourned to theyr lodgynges. Then this Sir John of Carongne taryed not longe in Fraunce, but went, with Syr John Boucequant, Syr John of Bordes, and Syr Loys Grat. All these went to se Lamorabaquyn,† of whome, in those dayes, there was moche spekynge." This name Froissart gives to the famous Mahomet, Emperor of Turkey, called the Great. It is the corruption of his Persian title, Ameer Uddeen Kawn. Such was the readiness, with which, in those times, heroes put their lives in jeopardy, for honour and lady's sake. But I doubt whether the fair dames of the present day will think, that the risk of being burnt, upon every suspicion of frailty, would be altogether compensated by the probability, that a husband of good faith, like John de Carongne, or a disinterested champion, like Hugh le Blond, would take up the gauntlet in their behalf. I fear they will rather accord to the sentiment of the hero of an old romance, who expostulates thus with a certain duke: "Certes, Sir Duke, thou doest unright; Amis and Amelion. I was favoured with the following copy of Sir Hugh le Blond, by K. Williamson Burnet, Esq. of Monboddo, who wrote it down from the recitation of an old woman, long in the service of the Arbuthnot family. Of course, the diction is very much humbled, and it has, in all probability, undergone many corruptions; but its antiquity is indubitable, and the story, though indifferently told, is in itself interesting. It is believed, that there have been many more verses. SIR HUGH LE BLOND. THE birds sang sweet as ony bell, "I love you well, my Queen, my dame, I love you well as any man, Save the King's fair bodye." "I love you well, my Queen, my dame; "Away, away, O Rodingham! He then stepp'd out at her room door, All in an angry mood; Until he met a leper-man,† He intoxicate the leper-man, And gave him more and more to drink, He took him in his armis twa, Till he came to the Queen's own bed, He then stepp'd out of the Queen's bower 'Till he came to the very place Where the King himself did go. The King said unto Rodingham, What news have you to me?" He said, "Your Queen's a false woman, As I did plainly see." He hasten'd to the Queen's chamber, Until he came to the Queen's own bed, And plooky are your armis twa Alas! alas!" then cried our Queen; Alas, and wo to me! There's not a man in all Scotland Will fight with him for me." She breathed unto her messengers, She breathed on her messengers, And there they found Sir Hugh le Blond, When unto him they did unfold He bade them go and tell the Queen, The day came on that was to do Sir Hugh le Blond was not come up "Put on the fire," the monster said; "Tis scarcely ten, now," said the King; "I heard the clock mysell." Before the hour the Queen is brought, In a black velvet chair she's set, A token for the dead. She saw the flames ascending high, "Where is the worthy knight," she said, "Who is to fight for me?" cution, before the arrival of the lady's champion:-" Ainsi comme Herchambaut vouloit jetter la dame dedans le feu, Sanxes de Clervaut ra a lui, et lui dict: Sire Herchambaut, vous estes trop a blasmer; car vous ne devez mener ceste chose que par droit ainsi qu'il est ordonne; je veux accorder que ceste dame ait un vassal qui la difendra contre vous et Drouart, car elle n'a point de coulpe en ce que l'accusez; si la devez retarder jusque a midy, pour scavoir si un bon chevalier l'a viendra secourir contre vous et Drouart."-Cap. 22. Then up and spak the king himsell, They then advanced to fight the duel Sir Hugh took out a lusty sword, Till's heart-blood did appear. "Confess your treachery, now," he said, "I like to wicked Haman am, The Queen was brought to her chamber The Queen then said unto the King, Give it unto the northern knight, Then said the King, "Come here, Sir Knight, To it we'll Fordoun join.' GRÆME AND BEWICK. THE date of this ballad, and its subject, are uncertain. From internal evidence, I am inclined to place it late in the sixteenth century. Of the Græmes enough is elsewhere said. It is not impossible, that such a clan, as they are described, may have retained the rude ignorance of ancient Border manners to a later period than their more inland neighbours; and hence the taunt of old Bewick to Græme. Bewick is an ancient name in Cumberland and Northumberland. The ballad itself was given, in the first edition, from the recitation of a gentleman, who professed to have forgotten some verses. These have, in the present edition, been partly restored, from a copy obtained by the recitation of an ostler in Carlisle, which has also furnished some slight al terations. The ballad is remarkable, as containing, probably, the very latest allusion to the institution of brotherhood in arms, which was held so sacred in the days of chivalry, and whose origin may be traced up to the Scythian ancestors of Odin. Many of the old romances turn entirely upon the sanctity of the engagement, contracted by the freres d'armes. In that of Amis and Amelion, the hero slays his two infant children, that he may compound a potent salve with their blood, to cure the leprosy of his brother-in-arms. The romance of Gyron le Courtois has a similar subject. I think the hero, like Græme in the ballad, kills himself, out of some high point of honour, towards his friend. The quarrel of the two old chieftains, over their wine, is highly in character. Two generations have not elapsed since the custom of drinking deep, and taking deadly revenge for slight offences, produced very tragical events on the Border; to which the custom of going armed to festive meetings contributed not a little. A minstrel, who flourished about 1720, and is often talked of by the old people, happened to be performing before one of these parties, when they betook themselves to their swords. The cautious musician, accustomed to such scenes, dived beneath the table. A moment after, a man's hand, struck off with a back-sword, fell beside him. The minstrel secured it carefully in his pocket, as he would have done any other loose moveable; sagely observing, the owner would miss it sorely next morn Arbattle is the ancient name of the barony of ArbuthnotFordun has long been the patrimony of the same family. ing. I choose rather to give this ludicrous example, than some graver instances of bloodshed at Border orgies. I observe it is said in a MS. account of Tweeddale, in praise of the inhabitants, that, "when they fall in the humour of good fellowship, they use it as a cement and bond of society, and not to foment revenge, quarrels, and murders, which is usual in other counties;" by which we ought, probably, to understand Selkirkshire and Teviotdale.-Macfarlane's MSS. GREME AND Bewick. GUDE Lord Græme is to Carlisle gane; "O were your son a lad like mine, And learn'd some books that he could read, They might hae been twae brethren bauld, And they might hae bragged the Border side. "But your son's a lad, and he is but bad, And billie to my son he canna be; "Ye sent him to the schools, and he wadna learn: Ye bought him books, and he wadna read.” But my blessing shall he never carn, Till I see how his arm can defend his head." Gude Lord Græme has a reckoning call'd, And he paid a crown, and it went roun'; And he has to the stable gane, Where there stude thirty steeds and three; "Welcome, my auld father!" said Christie Græme, And a baffled man by thee I be. "I hae been at Carlisle town, Where Sir Robert Bewick he met me; "I sent ye to the schools, and ye wadna learn: That ever sic a thing suld be! Billie Bewick was my master, and I was his scholar, And aye sae weel as he learned me." "O hald thy tongue, thou limmer loon, If thou does na end me this quarrel soon, The wind has blown it from your hand ?""What's that thou says, thou limmer loon? How dares thou stand to speak to me? If thou do not end this quarrel soon, The ostler's copy reads very characteristically, "IfI suld kill my billie dear, God's blessing I shall never win; But if I strike at my auld father, I think 'twald be a mortal sin. "But if I kill my billie dear, It is God's will, so let it be; O gin he did not become them weel! Where he was teaching his scholars five. And he walk'd his father's close about. And a' to see what there might be, I think it be young Christie Græme."Ye're welcome here, my billie dear, And thrice ye're welcome unto me!"- "He sent me to schools, and I wadna learn ; Till he see how my arm can guard my head."- "O God forbid, my billie dear, That ever such a thing suld be! We'll take three men on either side, And see if we can our fathers agree." "O hald thy tongue, now, billie Bewick, "But I hae nae harness, billie, on my back, Then he's thrown aff his coat o'mail Then Bewick has thrown aff his cloak, O they hae fought for twae lang hours; "All things being ready for the ball, and every one being in their place, and I myself being next to the Queen, (of France,) expecting when the dancers would come in, one knockt at the door somewhat louder than became, as I thought, a very civil peron. When he came in, I remember there was a sudden whisper among the ladies, saying, 'C'est Monsieur Balagny," or, "Tis Monsieur Balagny; whereupon, also, I saw the ladies and gentlemen, one after another, invite him to sit near them; and, which is more, when one lady had his company a while, another would say, You have enjoyed him long enough; I must have him now; at which bold civility of theirs, though I were astonished, yet it added unto my wonder, that his person could not be thought, at R The sweat drapp'd fast frae aff them baith, That none may know who has done the deed." "O I hae slain thee, billie Bewick, If this be true thou tellest to me; He has pitch'd his sword in a moodie-hill, And dead upon the ground fell he. "Twas then came up Sir Robert Bewick, "For I think ye hae gotten the victorie." "O hald your tongue, my father dear! Ye might hae drunken your wine in peace, "Gae dig a grave, baith wide and deep, And a grave to hald baith him and me But lay Christie Græme on the sunny side, For I'm sure he wan the victorie." "Alack! a wae!" auld Bewick cried, "Alack! was I not much to blame? I'm sure I've lost the liveliest lad That e'er was born unto my name." I durst hae ridden the world round, THE DUEL OF WHARTON AND STUART. IN TWO PARTS. DUELS, as may be seen from the two preceding ballads, are derived from the times of chivalry. They succeeded to the combat at outrance, about the end of the sixteenth century; and, though they were no longer countenanced by the laws, nor considered a solemn appeal to the Deity, nor honoured by the presence of applauding monarchs and multitudes, yet they were authorized by the manners of the age, and by the applause of the fair. They long contimost, but ordinary handsome; his hair, which was cut very short, half gray, his doublet but of sackcloth, cut to his shirt, and his breeches only of plain gray cloth. Informing myself of some standers-by who he was, I was told he was one of the gallantest men in the world, as having killed eight or nine men in single fight; and that, for this reason, the ladies made so much of him: it being the manner of all French women to cherish gallant men, as thinking they could not make so much of any one else, with the safety of their honour."-Life of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, p. 70. How near the character of the duellist, originally, approached to that of the knight-errant, appears from a transaction which took place at the siege of Juliers, betwixt this Balagny and Lord Herbert. As these two noted duellists stood together in the trenches, the Frenchman addressed Lord Herbert: Monsieur, nued, they even yet continue, to be appealed to as the test of truth; since, by the code of honour, every gentleman is still bound to repel a charge of falsehood with the point of his sword, and at the peril of his life. This peculiarity of manners, which would have surprised an ancient Roman, is obviously deduced from the Gothic ordeal of trial by combat. Nevertheless, the custom of duelling was considered, at its first introduction, as an innovation upon the law of arms; and a book, in two huge volumes, entitled Le vrai Theatre d'Honneur et de la Chivalerie, was written by a French nobleman, to support the venerable institutions of chivalry against this unceremonious mode of combat. He has chosen for his frontispiece two figures; the first represents a conquering knight, trampling his enemy under foot in the lists, crowned by Justice with laurel, and preceded by Fame, sounding his praises. The other figure presents a duellist, in his shirt, as was then the fashion, (see the following ballad,) with his bloody rapier in his hand: the slaughtered comba tant is seen in the distance, and the victor is pursued by the Furies. Nevertheless, the wise will make some scruple, whether, if the warriors were to change equipments, they might not also exchange their emblematic attendants. The modern mode of duel without defensive armour, began about the reign of Henry III. of France, when the gentlemen of that nation, as we learn from Davila, began to lay aside the cumbrous lance and cuirass, even in war. The increase of danger being supposed to contribute to the increase of honour, the national ardour of the French gallants led them early to distinguish themselves by neglect of every thing that could contribute to their personal safety. Hence, duels began to be fought by the combatants in their shirts, and with the rapier only. To this custom contributed also the art of fencing, then cultivated as a new study in Italy and Spain, by which the sword became at once an offensive and defensive weapon. The reader will see the new science of defence," as it was called, ridiculed by Shakspeare, in Romeo and Juliet, and by Quevedo, in some of his novels. But the more ancient customs continued for some time to maintain their ground. The Sieur Colombiere mentions two gentlemen, who fought with equal advantage for a whole day, in all the panoply of chivalry, and, the next day, had recourse to the modern mode of combat. By a still more extraordinary mixture of ancient and modern fashions, two combatants on horseback ran a tilt at each other with lances, without any covering but their shirts. ter in these duels, which were supposed, in the reig of Henry IV., to have cost France at least as many of her nobles as had fallen in the civil wars. With these double weapons, frequent instances occurred, in which a duellist, mortally wounded, threw himself within his antagonist's guard, and plunged his poniard into his heart. Nay, sometimes the sword was altogether abandoned for the more sure and murderous dagger. A quarrel having arisen betwixt the Vicomte d'Allemagne and the Sieur de la Roque, the former, alleging the youth and dexterity of his antagonist, insisted upon fighting the duel in their shirts, and with their poniards only; a desperate mode of conflict, which proved fatal to both. Others refined even upon this horrible struggle, by choosing for the scene a small room, a large hogshead, or, finally, a hole dug in the earth, into which the duellists descended, as into a certain grave. Must I add, that even women caught the frenzy, and that duels were fought, not only by those whose rank and character rendered it little surprising, but by modest and well-born maidens!-Audiguier Traité de Duel. Theatre D'Honneur, vol. i.† We learn, from every authority, that duels became nearly as common in England, after the accession of James VI., as they had ever been in France. The point of honour, so fatal to the gallants of the age, was nowhere carried more highly than at the court of the pacific Solomon of Britain. Instead of the feudal combats, upon the Hiegate of Edinburgh, which had often disturbed his repose at Holyrood, his levees, at Theobald's, were occupied with listening to the detail of more polished, but not less sanguinary, contests. I rather suppose, that James never was himself disposed to pay particular attention to the laws of the duello; but they were defined with a quaintness and pedantry, which, bating his dislike to the subject, must have deeply interested him. The point of honour was a science, which a grown gentleman might study under suitable professors, as well as dancing, or any other modish accomplishment. Nay, it would appear, that the ingenuity of the sword-men (so these military casuists were termed) might often accommodate a bashful combatant with an honourable excuse for declining the combat: -"Understand'st thou well nice points of duel ? As long, as wide as mine? For otherwise Albumazar, Act IV. Sec. 7. In Beaumont and Fletcher's admirable play of A When armour was laid aside, the consequence was, that the first duels were very sanguinary, terminating frequently in the death of one, and sometimes, as in the ballad, of both persons engaged. Nor was this all: the seconds, who had nothing to do with the quarrel, fought stoutly, pour se desennuyer, and often sealed with their blood their friend-sorted to by the fainthearted, yet the fiery cavaliers ship for their principals. A desperate combat, of the English court were but little apt to profit by fought between Messrs. Entraguet and Caylus, is them; though their vengeance for insulted honour said to have been the first, in which this fashion of sometimes vented itself through fouler channels promiscuous fight was introduced. It proved fatal than that of fair combat. It happened, for example, to two of Henry the Third's minions, and extracted that Lord Sanquhar, a Scottish nobleman, in fenfrom that sorrowing monarch an edict against duel-cing with a master of the noble science of defence, ling, which was as frequently as fruitlessly renewed lost his eye by an unlucky thrust. The accident by his successors. The use of rapier and poniard was provoking, but without remedy; nor did Lord together, was another cause of the mortal slaugh- Sanquhar think of it, unless with regret, until some on dit que vous etes un des plus braves de votre nation, et je * It appears from a line in the black letter copy of the followsuis Balagny; allons voir qui fera le mieux," With these ing ballad, that Wharton and Stuart fought with rapier and dagwords, Balagny jumped over the trench, and Herbert as speedily ger :following, both ran sword in hand towards the defences of the besieged town, which welcomed their approach with a storm of musketry and artillery. Balagny then observed this was hot service, but Herbert swore he would not turn back first; so the Frenchman was finally fain to set him the example of retreat. + This folly ran to such a pitch, that no one was thought worNotwithstanding the advantage which he had gained over Bathy to be reckoned a gentleman, who had not tried his valour in lagny, in this "jeopardy of war." Lord Herbert seems still to have grudged that gentleman's astonishing reputation; for he endeavoured to pick a quarrel with him, on the romantic score of the worth of their mistresses; and, receiving a ludicrous answer, told him, with disdain, that he spoke more like a palliard than a cavalier. From such instances, the reader may judge, whether the age of chivalry did not endure somewhat longer than is generally supposed. * "With that stout Wharton was the first at least one duel; of which Lord Herbert gives the following instance: A young gentleman, desiring to marry a niece of Monsicur Disancour, ecuyer to the Duke de Montmorenci, received this answer: Friend, it is not yet time to marry; if you will be a brave man, you must first kill, in single combat, two or three men; then marry, and get two or three children; otherwise the world will neither have gained nor lost by you."-HERBERT'S Life, p. 64. |